Galactic 05

Galactic 05 was a crewed sub-orbital spaceflight of the SpaceShipTwo-class VSS Unity, which launched on 2 November 2023. It was the fifth commercial spaceflight and tenth overall spaceflight for American aerospace company Virgin Galactic.^[1]

Galactic 05

Mission type	Crewed sub-orbital spaceflight
Operator	Virgin Galactic
Apogee	87.2 km (54.2 mi)
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	VSS Unity
Spacecraft type	SpaceShipTwo
Manufacturer	The Spaceship Company
Crew
Crew size	6
Members	Michael Masucci Kelly Latimer Colin Bennett Alan Stern Kellie Gerardi Ketty Maisonrouge
Start of mission
Launch date	2 November 2023, 15:00 UTC
Launch site	Spaceport America Runway 34
Deployed from	VMS Eve
End of mission
Landing date	2 November 2023, 15:59 UTC
Landing site	Spaceport America Runway 34
Galactic 05 mission patch VSS Unity spaceflights ← Galactic 04 Galactic 06 →

Crew

Galactic 05's crew included three private passengers and three Virgin Galactic employees.

Position	Crew
Commander	Michael Masucci Sixth spaceflight
Pilot	Kelly Latimer Third spaceflight
Astronaut instructor	Colin Bennett Third spaceflight
Researcher	Alan Stern Only spaceflight
Researcher	Kellie Gerardi First spaceflight
Tourist	Ketty Maisonrouge Only spaceflight

Stern performed studies of human body's reaction to zero-gravity by wearing a biomedical monitoring harness. He also wanted to develop in-space operation of a particular high-tech camera that is planned to be used on an astronomical research mission in the future by NASA. His flight and research were financed by Southwest Research Institute.^[2]

Gerardi flew the Galactic 05 mission as a payload specialist doing scientific research with Alan Stern, a private passenger also on board. Onboard, Gerardi operated three biomedical and thermodynamic fluid experiments on behalf of IIAS (International Institute for Astronautical Sciences, a private international education and research facility). Gerardi operated a fluid cell designed to help better predict and control the shape and location of fluid within a container in microgravity. She also wore the Astroskin biomonitoring device to collect a wide range of biometric data during her flight. A third experiment studied insulin-resistance during spaceflight, and Gerardi wore a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) to measure and store glucose readings. Her flight was paid for by IIAS and the research done was developed by National Research Council of Canada.^[2][3]

See also

• List of spaceflight launches in July–December 2023